There is a desire for infrared lasers in the 1-7 micron range of the spectrum that are energy efficient and have watt level outputs. These devices are needed for remote sensing applications and aircraft self-defense applications. There are a number of molecular gas lasers that have operated in the spectral range of interest, but they all suffer from one or more problems. Chemical lasers used to produce light in this region of the spectrum require large chemical plants to generate the excited-state species required for lasing. In addition, the required chemicals are often volatile or hazardous. Electrical discharge lasers that operate in this region of the spectrum require large power generators to create the required electrical discharge. For many applications electrical discharge lasers are too large and heavy. In addition, they have a poor overall energy conversion rates. Present, optically pumped molecular lasers use inefficient solid-state lasers as pump sources. This results in the lasers being large, heavy and having poor energy conversion. Thus there exists a need for a 1-7 micron laser that is energy efficient, light weight and physically compact.